The intense flash flooding that shut down Sligo Creek Parkway and prompted at least 15 water rescues last weekend isn’t an anomaly, according to Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.
“We’re seeing a new normal,” said Elrich, who lives along Sligo Creek.
He described watching a man walk down the street in water up to his knees.
“That’s a level of water I have not seen before. It’s indicative, you know, of the storms we had.”
The county’s assistant chief administrative officer, Earl Stoddard, said the county’s flood sensors told the story of the severity of the weekend’s storms.
“The Sligo Creek and New Hampshire Avenue flood sensor that we had spiked 100 inches of increased depth in about 30 minutes,” he said, noting that the total depth was measured at 145 inches just 20 minutes later.
The county’s in the process of installing five additional flood sensors in the northern portion of the county, where there’s been a history of flooding and calls for water rescues. That will put the county’s total number of gauges at 40, according to Matt Miziorko, an emergency management specialist with Montgomery County.
And the county’s climate change officer, Sarah Kogel-Smucker, agreed that the region will likely continue to see more storms that are more violent and cause more flooding in the future.
“We need to adapt our infrastructure, our systems and our own thinking and actions” to deal with the increased flood risks posed by climate change, Kogel-Smucker said.
Kogel-Smucker said the county generated a 20-point plan to deal with the impacts of climate change, including flooding.
“As of fiscal year ’24, we have started 17 of those actions and made significant progress on 11 of the 20,” she said.
Residents can protect themselves by connecting with the county’s emergency alert system and by learning what actions to take. When flash flood watches escalate to flash flood warnings, she said “that means flooding is occurring in your area. The main thing to do, is to stay off the roads if at all possible.”
And never, ever try do drive through a flooded roadway.
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